User interface for network browser including pre processor for links embedded in hypermedia documents

ABSTRACT

An interface ( 105, 125, 120 ) for a World Wide Web (WWW) ( 110 ) browser is described which recognizes HyperText Markup Language (HTML) links embedded in WWW pages. Normally, such links are highlighted on a graphics screen and are activated using a pointing device such as a computer mouse. When each HTML link is recognized by the interface ( 105, 125, 120 ), it is assigned an identifier which can be selected by a user of a system incorporating the interface by means defined by the interface other than a mouse, for example by a keypad ( 105 ).

[0001] This invention relates to network based access systems in whichaccess is provided by activating links in files containing addresses,for instance in the manner of activating links embedded in files writtenin HyperText Markup Language (HTML).

[0002] An increasing amount of information is becoming available ondistributed communications systems. Most well-known perhaps is the WorldWide Web (WWW) area of the Internet, accessed using WWW browsers. Pagesconsisting of text, graphics, audio files, video files etc. are eachassociated with an address in a distributed network by means of whichthey can be accessed. A review and tutorial on HTML, particularly itsuse in the Web environment of the Internet, is published in the paperentitled “Creating a Hypertext Markup Language Document for anInformation Server” by JYM Chu, WL Palya and DE Walter in BehaviourResearch Methods, Instruments and Computers, 1995, Vol 27(2), at pages200-205.

[0003] Pages, usually of text, are displayed on a screen. At systemstartup, the page displayed will usually be provided by a user'sbrowser. Navigation from a first page to a location elsewhere in thenetwork is achieved by means of a link embedded in the first page andvisible on screen. Usually, the link holds the address for the secondlocation. When a user “clicks” on the link in the first page, thebrowser is activated to go to the location address held by the link.Thus the author of any page can make other pages, files or applicationsaccessible regardless of their geographical location by links from theirown page to relevant locations in the Internet.

[0004] (The term “page” as used herein should not be understood to referonly to pages of text and graphics but also to audio files, video files,Virtual Reality files and computer applications (software) that may bemade available via systems such as the Internet and WWW, if the contextso indicates.)

[0005] Current WWW browsers such as Netscape use a click from a pointingdevice (for example a mouse) to select the links and thus to movebetween pages. That is, the device positions a cursor on the screen soas to identify a selected link. Although ‘point and click’ navigation isintuitive to people familiar with computer graphical user interfaces,this is not the case for a large proportion of the population.Furthermore there are many situations where a pointing device is notsuitable for reasons of: cost, complexity, reliability, size,environment, etc.

[0006] According to the present invention, there is provided an accesssystem for accessing a location in a network by activating a link in afile, which link contains a location address or an identifier for alocation address, which system comprises:

[0007] i) means for retrieving one or more files;

[0008] ii) means for searching a file so retrieved to locate one or morelinks embedded therein;

[0009] iii) means for assigning an identifier to any link so located;

[0010] iv) selection means for use by the user to select an assignedidentifier; and

[0011] v) activating means responsive to selection of an identifier toactivate the associated link.

[0012] Depending on the nature of the link activated, or on the locationassociated with the link activated, the access system may then access adata file, such as text pages from the Internet, or may access othertypes of file, including videos or computer applications, such asconferencing applications.

[0013] The location associated with the link activated couldalternatively be a location in a communications network, such as atelephone or facsimile number or an electronic mail address. Equipmentto enable a communications connection to be established in this way isdisclosed in copending British patent applications GB9619958.3 andGB9707712.7 filed on Sep. 29, 1996, and Apr. 16, 1997 respectively, inthe name of the present Applicant.

[0014] By providing identifiers for the links, and providing a way ofselecting a link via its identifier instead of operating directly,on-screen, on the link, embodiments of the present invention allow useof a different user interface from the pointing type of device, usuallya “mouse”, usually used with such links. This means that the user canchoose an interface which is better suited to them or more available tothem than pointing devices such as a mouse.

[0015] It is even possible, using an embodiment of the presentInvention, to select a link which has been presented to the usernon-visually, for instance by sound.

[0016] One example of an environment in which a different user interfaceis already utilised for other purposes is in the home. Remote controlhandsets are frequently used to control domestic audiovisual equipment,for example: video tape recorders, hi-fi equipment and televisions.Also, a significant proportion of the television sets currently producedfor use In the UK are equipped with Teletext which can only be accessedby using a remote control handset. This has established a familiarmetaphor for controlling electronic equipment using a command-basedcontrol system-based on key-presses rather than pointing. Teletext onlyfunctions with prepared information however. It cannot be used in adynamic, uncontrolled environment such as with information from theInternet.

[0017] Embodiments of the present invention can be provided for instanceas a terminal, or the like, which can display pages from the World WideWeb, using an alternative “command-based” interface to selectidentifiers for links embedded in the pages seen on the terminal. Forinstance, there might be provided a simple Teletext-type remote controlhandset and simple coloured button-type labels for different links onthe screen. The user operates the handset to select a label, rather thanhaving to use a ‘point and click’ WWW-type interface. Thus users do nothave to position a pointer on the screen in order to select a paththrough a set of information pages. Instead navigation can be achievedby a series of key-presses which activate links.

[0018] It should be noted that, although the specific embodimentdescribed below uses a television screen to display the WWW information,the ‘command-based’ interface is not restricted to use with a televisionscreen: a wide range of other displays can be used. For example, adisplay panel on a telephone could be used to display the information,with the telephone keypad buttons being used to control the navigation,or a mobile information terminal could be produced, combining thefunctions of a mobile phone, pager, and personal organiser, whilst usinga minimal set of buttons.

[0019] An example of the use of telephone keypad buttons being used inconjunction with a screen display is described in copending Europeanpatent application number 97300929.3, filed on Feb. 13, 1997 by thepresent Applicant.

[0020] The physical implementation of the command interface need not bebased on a key-pad on a remote control handset. There are a large numberof alternative ways of providing user commands, and some of these arealso detailed below.

[0021] An application which could be accessed by an embodiment of thepresent invention is a conferencing application. Screen-basedaudio-conferencing applications are described in copending Britishpatent application numbers GB 9620000.1, filed on Sep. 25, 1996, GB9620260.1, filed on Sep. 27 1996, and GB 9705097.5, filed on Mar. 12,1997, and in copending European patent application number EP 97302615.6,filed on Apr. 16, 1997, all in the name of the present applicant. Byaccessing a location at which an audio-conferencing application isaccessible, the user would in fact most likely first be offered a textpage for registration in the conference. Hence the launching of theconferencing application could be very similar to accessing a text pagefrom the Internet.

[0022] An application to be launched is determined by a file extensionof the link address. Another example of such an application is a videoviewer which allows a user to view moving pictures. Many methods ofcoding moving pictures are available. One widely adopted technique isthat defined by International standard ISO-IEC11172 “Coding of MovingPictures and Audio for Digital Storage Media at up to About 1.5 Mbit/s”,known as MPEG1. Files which conform to MPEG1 are conventionally namedwith a file extension of “.MPEG” or “.MPG”. Files which are suitable forviewing with a QuickTime™ viewer from Apple™ conventionally have a fileextension of “.MOV”. If a link to such a file is located, an identifieris assigned to the link and an application is launched automatically ifa user has specified the application to be associated with a particularfile extension. Otherwise the user is asked to specify the applicationto be launched. Similarly a link may require a video conferencingapplication to be launched and a video conferencing connection to beestablished. Such links need to include an application specific fileextension for example “.VCL” for a videoconferencing link.

[0023] A particularly advantageous aspect of the present invention isthat difficulties which would normally be met in presentingWeb-compatible pages on a screen not normally for that purpose can beovercome. As mentioned above, the links in a Web-compatible page aredesigned to be selected by the user using a pointing device to place acursor at the position of the link in the text. Without a pointingdevice, it is not possible to select the link. However, by assigning amore generic identifier to the link, it becomes possible to use forinstance a keypad.

[0024] The identifier assigned to a link may be any of several types ofidentifier. It needs to identify each link as different from other linksviewable at the same time on screen and it needs to be selectable by anon-pointing device such as a keypad. Hence, examples of identifiersassigned to links could include colours, each link being shown on screenin a different colour. Coloured buttons on a keypad could then be usedto select a link. Just the initial letter of a link could be coloured.Another example is a number. Each link could be shown on screen with anumber added and a keypad could be used to enter the relevant number.

[0025] Numbers lend themselves to use where a link is presented to theuser as sound instead of visually. The existing link could have a spokennumber added to it and the user would use that number as the linkidentifier.

[0026] The identifier for a link can also be at least partly derivedfrom the normal on-screen appearance of the link. For instance, theidentifiers might be truncated versions of the text (or graphics) of thelink itself. These identifiers might appear on screen in addition to thelink itself. Hence the links may appear embedded in the text on screenas is usual with Web pages, but there may also be provided an area onscreen which shows just the identifiers, for ease of selection. In orderto relate the identifiers to the links, it is useful that theidentifiers include a truncated version of the text (or a symbolperhaps) from the relevant links. Embodiments of the present inventionprovide a means to generate that form of identifier at the client end,thus allowing any original text having embedded navigation links to beused with such embodiments of the present invention.

[0027] In more detail, although it is possible for the author of a pageincorporating a link to design the link specifically so that it could beused by embodiments of the present invention, in Internet environmentsthat would clearly have to be done in the page stored at the server tobe accessed. It would be impractical in the usual Web-type environmentto control the page design at all accessible servers. In order to makethe system practical for all accessible pages, files, applications etcover the Internet, embodiments of the present invention are based on aclient environment which controls the way the links are shown at theclient end. That is, a client device is provided which reads retrievedlinks and converts them wherever necessary by assigning an identifierwhich may in practice replace or supplement the link as it wasoriginally authored, for display at the client device.

[0028] As indicated above, it may be preferred, for clarity, thatembodiments of the present invention display not only the links as theyappear in a page of text, but also the identifiers, displayed in adedicated area of the screen. These identifiers may be provided by a setof “hot buttons” which repeat the functionality of the links. Forinstance, it might be clearer to the user to have an array of buttons toselect from, in an area across the bottom of the screen. This would beparticularly so for a user familiar with the Teletext environment. Smalldisplay screens may not have the space available to show the page oftext as well as an array of “hot buttons” having the originally authoredon-screen appearance of the links. Embodiments of the present inventioncan then be particularly useful by replacing lengthy link descriptorswith simple identifiers, such as numbers or colours, at least for anarray of “hot buttons” added to the page of text.

[0029] Embodiments of the present invention are useful in environmentswhere the size of the text is large relative to the screen areaavailable for display, but the user is still going to need to selectlinks. This occurs, as mentioned above, in cases where the screendisplay is simply small, such as in an aircraft where individual screensare provided for users. It also occurs however where it is required toprovide large text, for instance because the user has reduced visualability or because the screen has to be visible from a distance.Embodiments of the present invention are generally useful in the mannerin which link on-screen appearance can be tailored for the userenvironment without loss of functionality.

[0030] In general, embodiments of the present invention can provide abrowsing capability, providing functionality for retrieving data andacting interactively as in known Internet browsers, with the addedaspect of dynamic pre-processing of information at the user interface.

[0031] A terminal and interface system, herein referred to as “the EasyTerminal”, will now be described as an embodiment of the presentinvention, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanyingFigures in which:

[0032]FIG. 1 shows schematically the main components of the EasyTerminal;

[0033]FIG. 2 shows an example of a welcome screen;

[0034]FIG. 3 shows an example layout for a remote control handset foruse in the Easy Terminal;

[0035]FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the Easy Terminal hardware;

[0036]FIG. 5 shows a flowchart overview of the software processes of theEasy Terminal;

[0037]FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of a process used to analyse HTML to findlinks to other pages;

[0038]FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of a process for creating text for textbuttons in a display for the Easy Terminal;

[0039]FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of a further process for creating textfor text buttons in a display for the Easy Terminal;

[0040]FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of a process for recording history ofpages accessed by means of an Easy Terminal;

[0041]FIG. 10 shows a flow chart of a process for responding to userselections by means of the remote control handset of FIG. 3;

[0042]FIG. 11 shows a flow chart of a process for ordering linksdisplayed on a display by Easy Terminal; and

[0043] FIGS. 12 to 14 show flow charts of a process for clever scrollingof a screen display in Easy Terminal.

[0044] As described above, the Easy Terminal provides a simpleinformation interface. The system is designed to provide an interface toelectronic information in the form of pages of text and graphics, audiofiles, video files etc. which can be accessed using key-presses. Theinformation is derived from the WWW and is simplified and processedbefore being displayed.

[0045] Referring to FIG. 1, the main components of the Easy Terminal area display 100, controlled by the user from a remote control handset 105.Information is accessed on the WWW 110 via a network connection 115, andprocessed by the Easy Terminal process software 120.

[0046] Effectively, Easy Terminal provides a Web browser of known typebut with a significantly different user interface providingsignificantly different control functionality.

[0047] The display unit 100 is a standard television. In order to ensuremaximum legibility of text on the screen, large sans-serif fonts areused as much as possible. Anti-aliased fonts should be used if they areavailable. Text and background colours are chosen to ensure goodcontrast.

[0048] In addition to proportionately spaced text as described above,the screen can display high resolution colour images.

[0049] Referring to FIG. 2, on switch-on, the user is presented with awelcome screen with a general layout divided into three sections:

[0050] Masthead 200

[0051] Body 205

[0052] Footer 210

[0053] The Masthead 200: the upper part of the screen acts as a fixed“masthead” which is used to identify the name of the service beingprovided, as well as provide feedback to the user. For instance, thenumber entered from the key-pad would appear at the upper left in thisexample, whilst the status appears at the upper right (‘Ready’).

[0054] The Body 205: the main portion of the screen is devoted todisplaying WWW pages and/or processed WWW information. This part of thescreen can be scrolled so that viewed pages can be larger than theavailable screen area. (The masthead and footer are not affected by thisscrolling.) In general, pages which are displayed are made up of fivemajor elements:

[0055] Headings which are normally large and in bold type. In this case,“Main Index” is shown.

[0056] Text

[0057] Links 215 (normally shown as highlighted text with an optionalpreceding three digit number

[0058] Graphics (pictures)

[0059] Tables

[0060] Some pages, for instance home pages for particular services, maybe simply a list of links from which the user can select further pagesto access. The further pages will then generally comprise a mix of textand/or graphics and tables, with links embedded at irregular positions.The example shown in FIG. 2 is of the home page type, showing simply alist of links.

[0061] The Footer 210: the lower part of the screen is also fixed, andprovides space for four coloured text labels 220—the colours are matchedto the four colours of the buttons provided on the user's key-pad: Red,Green, Yellow, Blue. These are shortened versions of links 215 appearingin the body of the display 100 and are labelled with either descriptivetext for the links 215 or a three digit number. The labels 220 enableany one of the links 215 in the body 205 of the display 100 to beactivated. The labels 220 appear in a group of four and initially relateto the first four links 215 shown in the body 205 of the display. As thelinks shown in the body of the display are scrolled through, the labelscan also effectively be scrolled through by activating a “Next” key onthe keypad 105 which steps the labels on to show the next set of fourlinks. Hence, if the labels display descriptive text or a link number,this can be changed as the links are scrolled. When all the links havebeen scrolled through and displayed, then the first set arere-displayed.

[0062] If descriptive text is used for the labelling, this can bederived from the link text shown in the body of the display 100.

[0063] Referring to FIG. 3, the user may then access new WWW pages,which will take over the body of the display 100, using the remotecontrol handset 105. The remote control unit 105 in this implementationis a television-type unit with a keypad. An example of a suitablehandset has 25 buttons, as shown in FIG. 3.

[0064] Twenty-five buttons represents a good compromise between thenumber of available functions and the numbers of buttons available oncommon remote control handsets.

[0065] Up and Down keys 300, 305 on the keypad scroll the current pageseen in the body of the display 100 up and down. This can be done in away which is referred to herein as “clever scrolling”. The use of the Upand Down keys 300, 305 to move the on-screen view of the HTML page canbe in two modes. The default mode is to provide scrolling which isrelated to the links on the page. When a page is initially displayed,the first four links are coloured to show their association with thefour coloured buttons on the remote control or the on-screen colouredtext label area. If the Down key is pressed, then the next four links onthe page are coloured and the first four links revert to a defaultcolour used to indicate links which are not available via the remotecontrol or the on-screen coloured text label area. When the user pressesthe Down key, the system does a check as to whether there are links onthe page which are not currently highlighted. When the last visible linkon the page is coloured, then any subsequent pressing of the Down keywill cause the screen to roll downwards (one line at a time) untileither the end of the document is reached, or another link becomesvisible which is not coloured. A similar mechanism can be used for thescrolling upwards process.

[0066] “Clever scrolling” in this manner is described in more detailbelow, with reference to FIGS. 12 to 14.

[0067] A Back button 310 can also be used for scrolling upwards in aminimal-button interface.

[0068] A Next button 315 can also be used to scroll the display—but thisis linked to the number of links which are visible on the screen, and isintended for specialist applications where a minimal button-set isrequired. The Next button scrolls the body of the display downwardsuntil four links are visible. These can then be activated by respectivecoloured text labels in the Footer of the display 100. Pressing the Nextbutton then scrolls the display to present either the next page of text,or the next four links. Links 1, 5, 9 etc are thus always associatedwith the Red button, links 2, 6 and 10, etc the Green button, and so on.in a non-minimal-button interface, the Next button is used to select thenext four links on the page, regardless of their being displayed on thecurrent screen—the coloured text labels would then update to reflect thechange of links.

[0069] A Summary button 320 uses an online text summariser to produce ashortened form of the current page.

[0070] By pressing Help 325 and selecting Settings from a “user setup”page, the user may enlarge or reduce the size of the text, and selectwhether just text characters or pictures and text characters aredisplayed.

[0071] A new page may be selected by one of two methods:

[0072] Link and Number buttons

[0073] Navigation buttons

[0074] The Link and Number buttons are the four coloured buttons 330,plus the numeric buttons 335. As mentioned above, the links in the bodyof the display 100 may have a preceding three digit number. To use theLink and Number buttons to select a link to activate, either one of thecoloured buttons 330 can be pressed, or a three digit code can be used,using the numeric buttons 335 on the keypad 105.

[0075] If one of the coloured buttons on the remote control is pressed,this will produce a new page corresponding to the appropriate colouredlabel 220 in the footer of the display 100. The label 220 will beshowing a description identifying the link it is currently related to inthe body of the display 100—it is this related link which will then beactivated.

[0076] If alternatively a three digit code is entered, using the numerickeypad 105, as soon as the third button is pressed, then the associatedlink is activated and a new page is retrieved. If a correction isrequired, the most recently entered digit may be deleted with the Delkey.

[0077] There are many possible Navigation buttons which providededicated functions when they are pressed. Some of the possibilitiesinclude:

[0078] Back 310 allows the user to return to the page previouslydisplayed

[0079] Index 340 displays the main index page which is seen at switch-on

[0080] Help 325 displays a menu of help pages on the use of the terminal

[0081] Top 10 345 displays a list of pages which have been frequentlyand recently visited.

[0082] There are also three control keys which allow the user to controlthe loading of the pages:

[0083] Stop 350 Abandons the retrieval of a requested page. This may beused if the page is unavailable because of network problems or if thedownload is unacceptably slow

[0084] Undo (not

[0085] shown) This button can be used to combine the functions of theStop and the Del key—using the context at the time of use.

[0086] Reload 355 This refreshes the current page, downloading a newcopy from the network. This may be used to ensure that the displayedpage is up-to-date.

[0087] Smaller numbers of buttons can be used by omitting features, orby requiring combinations of buttons to be pressed simultaneously. Aminimal set of buttons would be approximately six buttons: the fourcoloured buttons, plus the ‘Next’ button, and a ‘Back’ button. Theprecise function of the named buttons is described later.

[0088] An example of a minimal set of buttons is provided by the simple“game pad” controller—as used widely for home video/computer gameconsoles. The “game pad” consists of eight buttons arranged in twogroupings: four coloured buttons plus an additional four buttonsconventionally used to indicate direction, rather like a primitivejoystick.

[0089] The utilisation of the game pad buttons in an embodiment of thepresent invention is as follows:

[0090] a the four coloured buttons are used to select links on the page

[0091] “Up” and “Down” buttons which scroll the page and the colouredlinks (using “clever scrolling” as described below)

[0092] a “Back/Delete” button. This functions as “back” except when theuser is editing text, in which case it functions as “delete”

[0093] an “Index/Finish” button. This takes the user to a main indexpage unless text is being edited, in which case it finishes the text

[0094] Other minimal button interfaces are also possible. The interfaceprovision of embodiments of the present invention can be easilyextended.

[0095] Simple keypads that provide only the digits 0 to 9, plus twoadditional buttons (conventionally as a three column by four row block)can be used by redefining the function of the buttons on the keypad:

[0096] the “0” button becomes the “Back” button

[0097] the two additional buttons are used for paging upwards anddownwards

[0098] Referring to FIG. 4, the implementation of the Easy Terminaldescribed here consists of a hardware platform and the associatedsoftware. The system is a linked mixture of hardware and softwareelements, and both parts are required to produce the display.

[0099] The hardware platform for the embodiment of the Easy Terminaldescribed here consists of a number of components. Many of these wouldbe common to most alternative implementations.

[0100] The components are detailed below: Communications Network 110 AnEthernet based connection to the Internet Network Link 115 An Ethernetcommunications card for a personal computer (PC) Processor 120 A GatewayP4D-66 IBM Compatible PC Computer with 486 DX2166 Processor. Hard disk43 A 540 MB Internal Hard Disk Drive Infra-red Handset 105 APropresenter Plus 25 button handset for PC Infra-red receiver 41 APropresenter URC receiver for PC Graphics Card 44 An ATI MACH 64 PCIgraphics card TV Output 45 Derived using a Creative Laboratories TVCoder for PC

[0101] The hardware is in four parts:

[0102] Control

[0103] Input

[0104] Processing

[0105] Output

[0106] The Control hardware comprises the Infra-red Handset 105 andReceiver 41.

[0107] The Input hardware comprises the Communications and Network Link115, which connects the PC to the WWW 110.

[0108] The Processor 120 itself carries out the Processing of theControl and Input data in order to produce the Output display.

[0109] The Output is in the form of a TV picture, produced from thecomputer display by using a graphics card and a specialised TVconverter.

[0110]FIG. 5 shows a flowchart showing an overview of the software andthe processes carried out in the Easy Terminal. The code is written inBorland Delphi (Object Oriented Pascal) for Microsoft Windows 3.1. Theprimary steps are as set out in FIG. 5: STEP 520 Search HTML file forlinks to other pages STEP 545 Fit coloured labels to screen and displaySTEP 550 Record history STEP 555 DispLay HTML

[0111] Referring to FIGS. 6, 7, 8 and 9, each of the primary steps 520,545, 550, 555 shown in FIG. 5 is now described in more detail.

[0112] Search HTML File for Links to Other Pages: STEP 520

[0113] An HTML file contains reference to other pages (also known as“links”) in the following form:

[0114] <A HREF=“page reference”>Link Text</A>

[0115] where the <a and </a> are tags which indicate the beginning andend of the reference respectively. The page reference indicates the WWWaddress of the page indicated, and will be in the form “http://...”.Note that those parts of the address which are the same as the presentpage are not always given, and that some expansion of the address isoften required to create the complete address required.

[0116] Referring to FIG. 6, when a new page is to be displayed in thebody of the display 100, it needs to be searched, STEP 520, for links toother pages so that those links can be differently displayed fromordinary text in the body of the display 100, and so that the labels inthe footer of the display 100 will display appropriate colours ordescriptions.

[0117] The system will therefore start, STEP 500, for instance, when anew (unprocessed) page has been accessed, usually because it has beenrequested by a user.

[0118] STEP 600: The HTML file containing the page is opened and, STEP605, the process will read each character of the text in turn to seewhether it introduces a reference, or a link, to another page. To dothat, it runs a test, STEP 610, “Does text read “<a′?” If the answer isyes, the process will read the file through to the symbol “</a>”, STEP615. Between these two symbols, the process takes the text as a pagereference, or link, STEP 620, and evaluates that link for its full pathname, STEP 625. (Often HTML addresses are abbreviated to the parts ofthe address which are different from the current page address. It isnecessary to expand these partial addresses so that they can be comparedwith stored addresses in the history lists etc). The system then addsthe link to a list of the links or page references for the page beingsearched, STEP 630, and stores the text of the page reference prior toprocessing for the labels, STEP 635.

[0119] In STEP 640, the system will add a three digit number to thefront of the page reference, or link text, for display in the body ofthe display 100. This three digit number is also added to theappropriate page reference in the list of links found in the page beingsearched and will appear in, or at least be correlated with, a label atany time that the relevant link is one of the first four links displayedin the body of the display 100.

[0120] The process will then search for further links, until the end ofthe file is reached, STEP 645, and the process is terminated, STEP 650.

[0121] Shortening Link Text: STEP 545

[0122] The Easy Terminal displays four coloured text labels at thebottom of the screen. Most Internet link descriptions are too long, andmay require truncation in order that the total length of the four labelswill fit onto the screen width in a font which is legible on thedisplay.

[0123] For the television display used in this implementation, the linkdescriptions are thus processed in the following way prior to display inorder to make them as intelligible as possible.

[0124] Referring to FIG. 7, where the text from a page reference hasbeen stored for processing to provide a coloured label, STEP 635, thenext step is to process the text for each page reference. This processstarts with a check, STEPS 700, 705, whether the page reference containstext to be truncated to provide a label or whether it contains anindicator that a label has already been supplied by a user. If the labelhas already been supplied, then the system will use that label, STEP710. The process stops for that particular page reference, moving on tostart again for the next.

[0125] To allow an author (or other user) to provide the labels, aspecial-purpose HTML tag has been defined. This enables HTML authors toembed pre-prepared shortened text labels for the coloured text labels.An example would be:

[0126] <A HREF=“page reference” HOTKEY=“Link1”>Link text</A>

[0127] Thus the functionality of the <A command in HTML is extended.

[0128] If the label has not been defined by a user, the process checkswhether the page reference, or link, is a picture, STEP 715. If the pagereference is indeed a picture, then the process looks for ALT text, STEP720. If the text exists, this is used for deriving a label, STEP 725. Ifthe ALT text is not there, then the system allocates a three digitnumber to the page reference concerned and uses this for the label, STEP730.

[0129] Where the page reference was text, or ALT text existed, then theprocess starts truncating it. It removes any HTML commands, STEP 735.The page reference then has to be shortened.

[0130] First each link description is shortened to a length thatrepresents the special case of four numbered links plus one text link,STEP 740. For the television example described here this isapproximately 30 characters. Partial words left hanging at the end of alink are removed, STEP 745, and the link reduced by one character, STEP750. Some unnecessary words such as “THE” and “A” may be removed toreduce the length of the link text still further, STEP 755. Words suchas “AND” and “OR” can be shortened to “&” and “/”, STEP 760. Thisprocess is a simplified form of the technique known as stemming, andmore sophisticated processing may be used to improve the truncationefficiency.

[0131] Lastly, a number of non-standard HTML codes need to be convertedbefore display, or removed, STEP 765. For example, a copyright symbol iswritten as &copy, and needs to be converted to (C) before display,whilst the emboldening command <B> and its reverse </B> need to beremoved.

[0132] After this first truncation step, the labels, or “buttoninformation”, are stored.

[0133] Referring to FIG. 8, even after these modifications have beenmade, the combined link text from the four link labels may still be toolong, and will overspill the width of the screen. When the relevant pageis to be displayed, the system will then go into a second truncationprocess. At this stage, the labels are processed in the fours in whichthey will appear on the screen during display.

[0134] The second truncation process makes a check step on the length ofthe labels, STEP 800. If the labels in combination are wider than thescreen, the maximum length of the link labels is reduced by onecharacter (ie first to 29, etc) with the longest link label beingprocessed first, STEP 805. This ‘balances’ the length of the label textbetween the links. Partial words at the end of the text are removed,STEP 810. Finally, words like “AND” and “OR” are removed if they are thelast word in the label text, and therefore redundant, STEP 815. Thereduction of the length is continued until the labels will fit on thescreen, and then they are displayed, STEP 820.

[0135] Recording History : STEP 550

[0136] Referring to FIG. 9, a history of the pages selected by the useris important for a number of reasons:

[0137] 1) the user may wish to back-track to a page they have recentlylooked at

[0138] 2) the user may select a list of the 10 most recently visitedpages

[0139] 3) the user may wish to see a list of the 10 pages which theyfrequently visit

[0140] 4) a log of the activity may be kept

[0141] Most of these functions are relatively simple. However 3) listedabove requires more sophistication.

[0142] In the current implementation the Easy Terminal maintains a listof the 10 pages most frequently visited in the last 7 days of operation.In order to do this it must first have a list of all pages which havebeen visited in the last 7 days: a history log containing counters,dates and addresses. The history log associates each page with sevenday-counters which count the number of accesses of each page during thatday.

[0143] Referring to FIGS. 5 and 9, when a new page has been accessed bya user, the page reference is added to an unsorted log file, STEP 900.This is a simple list of all pages accessed and can be effectively ofunlimited length. The process of appending a new page reference isstraightforward and not further described herein.

[0144] The new page reference is also added to a recently visited pageslist, STEP 905. The recently visited pages list is maintained at alength of 10 page references by running a check each time a pagereference is added, whether the list has gone over 10, STEP 910. If ithas, the oldest page reference is dropped, STEP 915. Again, this list isunsorted.

[0145] As well as the unsorted log file, an alphabetic list of the namesof all pages visited is maintained, together with a count of the numberof times a sage has been visited. To update the alphabetic list, abisection search is carried out to find out whether the page has alreadygot an entry, STEP 920. If no entry is present, then a new entry iscreated along with a new set of seven counters, STEP 925. If an entry isalready present, then the relevant day-counter is incremented, STEP 930.

[0146] The alphabetic list allows the user to review which pages havebeen most frequently visited. A button on a keypad 105 or a three digitcode, can be allocated to a function “Show 10 most frequently visitedpages”. If this is selected, the system can sort the alphabetic listaccording to the contents of the counters. Thus when a list of the 10most frequently visited pages is selected, the system counts up thetotal number of times each of the pages in the list has been accessedover the last 7 days, and sorts the list so that the top ten entries canbe displayed.

[0147] Each time a page is accessed, the counter for the current day isincremented. When the beginning of a new day is detected, the countersare updated, and pages which have not been accessed over the last 7 daysare removed from the alphabetic list.

[0148] Other schemes for maintaining a “Top 10” list are of coursepossible. Some possibilities are suggested below, in discussion ofalternative embodiments and possible refinements in the presentinvention.

[0149] Displaying HTML: STEP 555

[0150] Commercially available HTML displaying software is used todisplay the modified HTML code. This is not therefore described furtherherein. A number of minor modifications need to be made to the codehowever to remove error messages when images are not displayed and toremove the underlining from HTML hotlinks.

[0151] Referring to FIG. 10, the remote control handset 105 sendscommands using a standard serial port protocol. When a button ispressed, a Windows event is generated which activates a subroutine withthe function shown in FIG. 10. The user interface is thus a combinationof the screen display 100 (specifically the coloured text labels) andthe coloured buttons on the remote control 105.

[0152] When the button is pressed on the remote control 105, thisactivates the subroutine to retrieve the data incoming from the remotecontrol 105 at the serial port, STEP 1000. The subroutine will then acton the data retrieved, firstly by matching the data against possiblebutton identities, STEPS 1005, 1010, 1015, 1020, 1025, 1030, 1035.Depending on the outcome of each check, the subroutine will kick off adifferent process. For instance, if the key is found to be a digit key,STEP 1005, the subroutine will add the relevant digit to a currentnumber selection store, STEP 1045. If there are now three digits in thecurrent number selection store, this is sufficient to identify a pagereference and the subroutine will translate the three digits to a pagereference, STEP 1050, by reference to the link list maintained above atSTEPS 630 and 640.

[0153] The subroutine is now enabled to fetch the page from the WWW.

[0154] If the key does not represent a digit but is a hotkey (that is,identifies a label), then the system will have sufficient information togo direct to the link list, STEP 1050, and fetch the page.

[0155] If the key provides any of the following functions, then thesubroutine will fetch a page directly: “Index, Help, Top 10, Reload,Back or Summary”, STEPS 1015, 1020.

[0156] The key may be a control key acting on the screen, such as “Down,Up, Undo”, STEPS 1025, 1030. The subroutine will then scroll or updatethe screen or undo the last key press appropriately.

[0157] The key may have been the key “next”, for displaying the nextfour coloured text labels. In this case, the subroutine will recognisethe “next” command, STEP 1035, and display the labels as requested, STEP1065. To support the “Next” key function, the system has a counter whichcounts the number of times the Next key has been pressed while viewing adocument. This enables the system to track which set of four labelsshould be being displayed.

[0158] The last option in this embodiment is that the key represents a“stop” command, STEP 1040. The subroutine will respond by abandoningloading of the next page, STEP 1070.

[0159] An advantageous feature for embodiments of the present inventionis to determine the order of links appearing in a page on screen, andtherefore to control colour and/or number allocation, according to theposition of the links of the screen rather than their order in the text.This can ensure that links will always appear in sequence when thedocument is read in a conventional direction, for instance from left toright and top to bottom in a Western environment. Problems can occurotherwise for instance in tables which can have the effect that numbersappear out of order on the screen—for instance when only a few links arevisible in a multi-column table—the first column of links may onlydisplay one or two coloured or numbered links whilst the remainingcolumns have no coloured or numbered links.

[0160] This can be resolved by the system noting the co-ordinates of thelinks on the screen in the current viewed page whilst the page is beingpre-processed. The links can be assigned to numbers in sequenceaccording to their “y” and then their “x” co-ordinates. Once this orderhas been established, then the colours or numbers can be applied. Thisprocess will only need to be repeated for the page if the presentationof the page in the window changes, for example if the font size ischanged.

[0161]FIG. 11 gives an example of how improved link ordering could beimplemented and the following description should be read in conjunctiontherewith.

[0162] The HTML is read in item by item (STEP 1100). An item is either asection of text, a code or object within the page. The size of each itemis then calculated, and then ‘placed’ on the page with an X and Ycoordinate relative to the top-left of the page. If the object is a link(STEP 1105), the space would be left for later insertion of the linknumber (STEP 1110). (If no improved link ordering was present, this linknumber would be a sequential number in the order in which the links werefound in the HTML. Thus once the entire file had been read, the pagecould be drawn on screen).

[0163] However with improved link order, the X and Y co-ordinates ofeach link would be noted in integer arrays (STEP 1115) along with anindex array N which would contain a sequentially assigned integer (L inthe Figure) (STEP 1120).

[0164] Once the entire file has been read in, a ripple sort algorithm(STEPS 1125-1155) is used to find the link which is has the lowest Yco-ordinate, and is thus closest to the top of the page. If more thanone link has the same Y co-ordinate, the links are ordered according totheir X co-ordinate, so that the links read sequentially from left toright. This link is assigned to a number which is then increased by one.As the process is repeated, the links are thus ordered. Eventually thelinks are ordered according to their Y and X co-ordinates. The array Nacts as a reference to the action which must be taken in the event ofthe link being selected.

[0165] For example, suppose the HTML is as follows < table > < tr > <td > < a href = “Item 1” > Apples > < /a > < br > < a href = “Item2” >Bananas > < /a > < /td > < td > < a href = “Item3” > Pears > < /a > <br > < a href = “Item4” > Plums > < /a > < /td > < /table >

[0166] On a standard HTML browser, this will produce a matrix of 4 links

[0167] Apples Pears

[0168] Bananas Plums

[0169] Without Improved Link ordering, in Easy Terminal, the links arenumbered according to the order in which the links appear in the HTMLcode, thus the links will appear as

[0170] 001 Apples 003 Pears

[0171] 002 Bananas 004 Plums

[0172] However, with Improved Link Ordering, the links will bere-ordered as:

[0173] 001 Apples 002 Pears

[0174] 003 Bananas 004 Plums

[0175] and the array N will contain the elements (1, 3, 2, 4). If theuser now selects link 2, Easy Terminal can use the reference array N tosee that the second element N(2) is 3, and thus the appropriate actionis that of the third link in the HTML, i.e. to reference “Item3”.

[0176] Referring to FIGS. 12 to 14, Easy Terminal can provide “cleverscrolling” as follows.

[0177] In “clever scrolling”, it is possible to make the colour of allthe text uniform (normally black), and then highlight the availablelinks (associated with the coloured text labels) with the four colours.It is also possible to colour the unavailable links with a defaultcolour (for example purple) so that the links can be identified on thescreen. The Next/Down button can thus be considered as a button whichmoves the coloured (red, green, yellow and blue) labelling to the nextset of purple links, whilst the Back/Up button moves the colours to theprevious set of purple links.

[0178] When a request is made to plot the current page in the availablewindow on the screen, the index of the first ‘active link’ to which acoloured button is assigned is noted as A (STEP 1200). Then the locationof the first object which is visible on the page is determined (STEP1205). If this object is a link (STEP 1210), then the index of thislink, L, is compared to A (STEP 1220). If L is less than A, then thereare links present on the page which the user can access by pressing UP,and these links are coloured purple. A boolean flag BEFORE is set toTRUE (STEP 1225), indicating that there are links with an index lessthan A present on the page. Likewise if L>A+3 then there are linksavailable to the user by pressing DOWN, so these links are also colouredpurple, but the boolean flag AFTER is set to TRUE (STEP 1230).Otherwise, the link is associated with one of the coloured buttons, andis assigned to be RED, GREEN, YELLOW, or BLUE (STEPS 1235). This processis repeated until all the items visible on the page have been plotted,and assigned to appropriate colours.

[0179] Referring to FIG. 13, now if the user presses down and AFTER isTRUE (STEP 1300), then the active links are moved down the page byincreasing A by 4 (STEP 1305). Otherwise, there are no further links onthe page, and the page is therefore scrolled downwards if possible (STEP1310).

[0180] Referring to FIG. 14, similarly if the user presses up and BEFOREis TRUE (STEP 1400), then the active links are moved up the page bydecreasing A by 4 (STEP 1405). Otherwise, there are no further links onthe page, and the page is therefore scrolled upwards if possible (STEP1410).

[0181] Alternatives and Modifications

[0182] There are many alternative ways in which Easy Terminal could beimplemented, which would provide a similar level of functionality to theuser but with modifications to the hardware and software described.These are described and discussed below.

[0183] Although the specific embodiment described herein uses an IBMCompatible PC with an Ethernet connection, there are many alternativeplatforms on which the Easy Terminal could be implemented. Furthermore,the reprocessing and repurposing of the WWW information could be carriedout remotely, or in the network, which could simplify the design of theuser terminal hardware. Such an arrangement could be particularlyappropriate where there are multiple users of the same system, such asin an interactive screen environment on an aeroplane for passengers.

[0184] A videophone could be used as a display for the Easy Terminal.Key stroke commands could either be taken from the videophone keypad,via speech recognition, or from an external controller.

[0185] A pager, watch, mobile phone or other mobile device could be usedas an Easy Terminal to display processed WWW information and using‘minimum button set’ navigation techniques as described herein.

[0186] The Easy Terminal software could of course run on any computerplatform which had sufficient speed, memory and display capabilities.This could be provided for instance by a video recorder, satellitebroadcast receiver, digital broadcast decoder, digital video player or agames console.

[0187] The Easy Terminal could run on an appropriately adapted“interactive TV” or “Video on Demand” system. This could be implementedeither by running the Easy Terminal at the user's premises or at thecontent provider's. Thus in the first case, the data transmitted acrossthe connection would consist of a conventional Internet data stream, andin the second it would consist of either an encoded video signal or anembedded data stream.

[0188] An Easy Terminal could be built in to a television receiver inmuch the same way that Teletext is currently included in the design oftelevision receivers. In this case it would be possible to improve thequality of the display by using a non-interlaced high definition mode.

[0189] The Easy Terminal could be implemented in two parts: a standardInternet browser at the user terminal modified to interpret commandswith a remote control 105, and a network based processor which modifiesstandard World Wide Web pages as appropriate.

[0190] The Easy Terminal could use any appropriate communications mediumfor the transfer of data. This includes, for example, a fixed or mobiletelephone network, a broadcast TV service or radio paging service.

[0191] The Easy Terminal could use any suitable remote control unit 105,or alternative source of user commands. These could include:

[0192] Larger controllers with alphanumeric keys

[0193] Foot control pads, or controllers involving other parts of thehuman body

[0194] Connections other than infra-red, including radio or wired links.

[0195] User independent speech recognition could be used as a substitutefor a key-based controller—thus simple words such as ‘red’ and ‘next’ or‘twenty-three’ could provide the means of navigating between links.

[0196] In all of these alternatives, the principle of the Easy TerminalNavigation remains the same: the user does not have to position apointer in order to activate a command. However, embodiments of thepresent invention do not exclude the use of a pointing device. A mouseor a trackball can still be used for instance. This enables the sameuser interface as a conventional browser but still brings advantagesrelated to the present invention. For instance, an on-screen bar usedfor coloured text labels can be used as a way of quickly selecting linkswithout the need to move the mouse pointer to the specific location ofthe actual link itself. This could be important to people whose controlover the mouse is limited, eg by physical impairment or by anenvironmental condition such as severe vibration. The coloured textlabels could be replaced by coloured boxes to make this relationshipexplicit for those with impaired vision—which links into the particularability of embodiments of the present invention to display text at largefont sizes. The mouse driver software could be adapted to restrict themouse pointer position on the screen—limiting the movement to horizontalpositions over the coloured text label bar for instance, or the positioncould be quantised to ease the selection of the four boxes/areas/labels.

[0197] For situations where a mouse is not appropriate, simpler controldevices like paddles or foot controllers could be used to provide thesame control ability as a mouse.

[0198] The Easy Terminal software could be written in any appropriatecomputer language or protocol. This could be implemented as a plug in tostandard software, or in an Internet language such as Java.

[0199] A number of the features of the Easy Terminal could beimplemented as processes carried out remotely with respect to the user.For example, the insertion of numbered links and coloured hot links neednot necessarily be implemented at the user's terminal. Such a processorcould be provided as a network or broadcast service.

[0200] The Easy Terminal could also provide rapid access to conventionalTeletext pages. These pages could be displayed either as facsimiles ofthe source pages, or could be enhanced using the display, linking andnavigation techniques described here.

[0201] A facility could be provided for the input of text. This could beachieved in a number of ways. Some possibilities include:

[0202] For any text field, the user could select from a number ofoptions on the screen (this is known as a listbox or ‘pop-out’ box). Theoptions which appear in the box could include items already known fromthe setup of the Easy Terminal (the owner's name, address, telephonenumber etc.) as well as a history of recently entered text.

[0203] The user could make any combination of letters up by selectingletters one by one from a scrolling or rotating list, or a grid ofcharacters.

[0204] Characters could be associated with the numeric keypad bypressing more than one button at once.

[0205] Characters could be selected by pressing a button more than once.These characters could correspond to those currently written ontelephone keypads.

[0206] For example, to select the character ‘B’ the ‘2’ button would bepressed twice since it has the legend ‘ABC’.

[0207] A full alphanumeric keypad could be included by having a largernumber of buttons on the keypad, or the option of attaching a standardkeyboard to the terminal.

[0208] The summarising features which are already part of the specificembodiment described above could be extended in a number of ways.

[0209] The user could be provided with the choice of a number ofdifferent levels of summary. This could be selected, for example, byrepeated summary commands.

[0210] Summarising of text could be carried from one page to the next.Thus, once the summariser is activated, it would be operational until acommand is given to disable it. This could be provided as an option oruser preference.

[0211] The size of text used in HTML pages can be determined both by theauthor and the reader. The author of an HTML page can select therelative sizes of fonts with respect to a standard reference size; thiscan be varied throughout the document. The reader may select a scalingfactor to enlarge or reduce this reference size. A control could beprovided to remove certain resizing information from the text so thatfonts which are too large or too small are displayed in more appropriatesizes.

[0212] In addition, the ratio between the largest and smallest fontsizes used on the display may be reduced in order to suit the type ofdisplay. For example, on a computer screen, headings in large font sizesare appropriate, whilst the same large headings may appear too largewhen viewed in association with blocks of text on a television screen.

[0213] Improved Navigation by Colours

[0214] A control could be given to allow a user to set up a choice ofstandard colours for the background, the text and the links, or to usethe colours and backgrounds as selected by the author of the page. Afurther refinement would allow only specific colour combinations to beallowed, whilst those which would significantly reduce the legibility ofthe page could be altered to maintain clarity.

[0215] As mentioned above, it is possible to use rectangular areas withcoloured borders to indicate active areas. This can be extended toprovide the option for coloured borders to picture elements (GIFgraphics etc) on the screen. This enables links which are the equivalentof on-screen ‘buttons’ to be selected using colours.

[0216] Authors of HTML pages can suggest the background text and linkcolours for their pages. Certain colour combinations may be unsuitablefor use with Easy Terminal's colour navigation schemes. One example ofthis might be the low contrast of a yellow link on a white page or ablue link on a black page. Easy Terminal overcomes this by adjusting thenavigation colours according to the background selected. For example, awhite background will cause the link colours to be darkened, etc. If abackground colour is particularly close to one of the link colours, thenEasy Terminal will darken the background and lighten the link colouruntil a reasonable level of contrast is provided.

[0217] Navigation between pages could be achieved using one or more of anumber of possible alternative schemes:

[0218] Uniform Length Numbered Links

[0219] Numbered links of a uniform length within a page (e.g. 01 02 . .. 99) could be used to allow users with a numeric keypad to select a newpage. The page retrieval could start as soon as the final digit ispressed. Note that the number of digits need not necessarily be three,as described above, and could be varied according to the number of linkson the page. Thus a page with less than 10 links could use a singledigit, whilst one with more than 10 would require two.

[0220] Variable Length Numbered Links

[0221] Numbered links with a length which is variable within a pagecould be used. The user could indicate the end of a number either bypressing a return key or by having a set time-out after which the end ofthe entry would be assumed. For example, links might be enumerated as(1, 2, 3 . . . 10, 11, 12). In this example, if a user pressed 1, therewould be a time delay to allow the user to enter a second digit ifrequired. On the other hand, if the user pressed 3, no time delay wouldbe required as there are only 12 links on the page. By techniques suchas these, users can navigate by means of numbers only and can remove thecoloured text labels if required.

[0222] Coloured Text Labels displayed Separate to the Main Text Body

[0223] As described above, coloured text labels which contain summariesof the link text on the page or specially written text can be displayedat the bottom of the screen, and activated by means of associatedcoloured buttons on a keypad 105. The number of labels need notnecessarily be four, of course, but could be varied according to thewidth of the screen. When more links are present on the screen thanthere are associated labels, one or two additional keys (Next in ourspecific embodiment) could be used to cycle through the available linksforward and/or backward.

[0224] Note that if the display used could not show text in differentcolours, coloured markers could be printed at the bottom of the screenclose to the labels so that the association of the labels with thebuttons is apparent.

[0225] Coloured Text Links within the Main Text Body

[0226] In an alternative method of navigation, the labels need not carryany text at all, but just be different colours. This would involveremoving the colour information from the main body of the text so thatmost of the text is displayed in one single colour (for example black).Links embedded in the text could then be displayed in differentrespective colours, associated with very simple coloured labels at thebottom of the screen. Thus, in the case of our specific embodiment, withfour coloured labels, the first link in the text would appear red, thesecond green, and so on. One or two buttons on the keypad 105 could beprovided to cycle through the links so that different links would behighlighted, ready for activation. Links in the text could indeed becoloured instead of the labels on the bottom of the page.

[0227] Although the specific embodiment described above uses alternativenavigation schemes to access hypertext links within an HTML document,the same navigation scheme could be used to access HTML labels withinforms or any other object on an HTML page.

[0228] Graphical image maps could be included in the navigation schemesby overlaying links on the images. Thus with a numbered navigationscheme, numbered links could be associated with areas of an image inmany different ways. For example,

[0229] the numbered link could flash over the active area of the image

[0230] a number could be written beside the image with an arrow pointingto the active region

[0231] With a coloured navigation scheme, the active areas of the imagecould be highlighted by means of, for example,

[0232] a coloured frame round the active area of the image

[0233] changes to the colour palette information over a local area of animage, so that part of an image appears predominantly the colour of alink colour

[0234] a flashing filled area of the appropriate colour could indicate alink.

[0235] Since the links within a map are available as a map file, thenthe links contained within an image could be presented as a series ofsets of four coloured text labels, which are scrollable using the Nextcommand. In this case, the only description available for the link couldbe the address contained within the link itself, and so might containuseful information. One solution to this problem might be to pre-loadthe page pointed to by the link, and then use the title of that page asthe text for the link label.

[0236] The number of keys used to control the system could be reduced orextended according to the hardware platform and the user requirements. Anumber of examples of variation in key layouts might be:

[0237] navigation between the pages could be done using either onlynumbers or only colours

[0238] on scrolling the page up and down, as abovementioned the sets offour active links, ie with associated labels, could automatically bealtered according to those currently visible on the screen. Thus thefunctions of Next and Down in the specific embodiment described abovewould be combined.

[0239] the function of Up and Back in the specific embodiment describedabove could be combined.

[0240] Audio could be used as a means of reinforcement. Thus differentsounds could be played in response to key presses or commands.

[0241] Graphics display techniques could be used to make the operationof the Easy Terminal more intuitive and apparent. A number of examplesare given below:

[0242] A graphical indicator could be used to show the user how much andwhich part of a page is currently being displayed on a screen.

[0243] The coloured text labels could be smoothly scrolled to indicatethe relationship between different groups of labels. In the case of thespecific embodiment described above, for example, upon pressing the Nextbutton, the next four links would scroll into the visible part of thefooter.

[0244] Shading could be used to indicate that there are regions of thepage which are not currently visible on screen.

[0245] For certain applications, access could be restricted to a subsetof the Internet by using a set of specially designed pages which onlycontain links to other pages within the set. It would also be possibleto remove families of links according to where they point. For example,all links could be removed which start with “http://undesirable.com”.

[0246] Other Methods of Controlling Easy Terminal

[0247] ‘Back’ key

[0248] Selecting the ‘0’ button on a keypad can act as a synonym for the‘Back’ key. Pressing # and * (or additional buttons on the keypad) willscroll the current page up and down by the height of the current screenwindow.

[0249] Remote Control

[0250] Easy Terminal may be controlled by other applications. Messagesare passed from the controlling application to Easy Terminal usingeither Windows messaging (DDE, OLE, ActiveX, COM, Java) technique, orhooking into the mouse or keyboard driver (by emulating key-presses, forexample) on the same computer, or from other computer(s) or equipmentvia the serial, parallel or network ports. In one implementation of EasyTerminal the network-based control is achieved by using TCP/IP. The useof Easy Terminal navigation with colours and numbers lends itself toremote control from other devices and to data-sharing applicationsbecause the controls and signals are not governed by screen layout.

[0251] In particular, the ability to user simple keyboard commands toprovide control over the display of Web pages is not commonly availablein other browsers—the control is normally assumed to be via the mouse.The selection of links is normally carried out by using the mouse topoint to a link (normally underlined and coloured blue on a conventionalbrowser display) and then clicking the mouse button—in Easy Terminalthis can be achieved by using either the coloured text lables, or thecoloured remote control buttons (or their equivalent). Scrolling on aconventional browser required precise movement of the mouse to thescroll bar, and then clicking or dragging, or else the use of the cursorkeys on the keyboard. Easy Terminal's clever scrolling requires just the‘Next’ or ‘Back’ buttons to achieve the same functions—and combines theon-screen highlighting of available links as well.

[0252] Easy Terminal thus allows keyboard control of a browser, whichcould be important for any use where a mouse is inconvenient or reducesefficiency. One example of this would be in a situation where a person,whose typing skills are required for inputting information into acomputer, is also required to use a web-based page. Easy Terminalenables this person to keep their hands on the keyboard and stillcontrol and interact with the screen display. This could be particularlyimportant in situations where time efficiency is paramount: CallCentres, Directory Enquiry and other ‘bureau’ based applications.

[0253] Linked Easy Terminals

[0254] Two Easy Terminal equipped computers can be linked together sothat command and control messages can be transferred between them usingone of the ‘Remote Control’ methods described above. This function isnot currently available as a standard feature on other browsers. Thisallows the two Easy Terminals to be used for tutorial, education,illustration, form filling, and other instances where interactivitybetween more than one user is required. This is only possible because ofthe simple control interface to the web browser which Easy Terminalprovides. For example if two conventional browsers were linked togetherusing application sharing, then control information about mouse positionwould form the majority of the transferred control messages, whereas forEasy Terminal a few button press messages would be sufficient.

[0255] The types of information which can be exchanged are notrestricted to just control messages. Additional information such asdisplay settings, the current document URL, highlighted link andposition within the document, current frame may also be transferred.

[0256] Highlighted Numbers

[0257] A number of known techniques may be used to highlight numbers onthe page. This includes emboldening the number, displaying the number in“reverse video” (reversing number and background colour) or displayingthe number with a different background colour.

[0258] Improved Page Presentation

[0259] Intelligent Masthead

[0260] The masthead which displays information to the user such asnumbers pressed, the status of the current page or other instructions isonly displayed where necessary. Thus when a page is fully loaded and isbeing displayed, the full area of the display is available.

[0261] Limited Width Pages

[0262] Standard HTML browsers allow pages to have variable widths andheights. If either the width or height exceeds the screen parametersthen the user is given the ability to scroll the document across thescreen. Easy Terminal allows the user to scroll the document up anddown, but not left and right. In other words, the page is never allowedto exceed the display width. This is achieved in the following ways.

[0263] Text is conveniently wrapped at spaces and line breaks such thatit fills the width of the screen. However if a single word is wider thanthe screen than the document must be scrolled to view the word. In EasyTerminal the font size of the word is reduced such that it fits in theavailable space.

[0264] If an image is wider than the screen then it is scaled preservingits aspect ratio so that it fits the screen.

[0265] If a table is wider than the screen then its column widths arereduced such that the ratio of the desired widths remains constant. Textand images within a table are scaled to fit the table cell if required.

[0266] Redundant Link Removal

[0267] The HTML processor can consider two adjacent (successive) linkson the same page as being the same. Thus a picture and accompanying text(which both point to the same URL) are indicated as the same link bycolour and/or number, for example.

[0268] Form Control Objects

[0269] Conventional browsers use on-screen control objects to provideuser interaction with devices like buttons, checkboxes andlistboxes—typically used in forms. User interaction with these typicallyinvolves mouse clicks. The on-screen control, size and colour of theseobjects is fixed by the operating system and cannot be easily changed.When the font size used to display the text is changed, these objects donot scale to compensate, which means that, for large font sizes, theyare disproportionately sized.

[0270] Easy Terminal can display standard HTML form control objects—butit displays these by redrawing them from graphics primitives rather thanusing the standard operating system provision. This enables the size andother properties of these objects to be controlled. For example, eachform control object can have a colour, a number and is scaled accordingto the size of the current font.

[0271] Typical control objects include: Name Function button submit aform or make a direct selection radiobutton select only one of a numberof options checkbox select many options combobox select one of a numberof pop-up options listbox selection one or more of a number of listedoptions editbox type in a single line alphanumeric string using akeyboard carousel textarea type in multiple alphanumeric strings

[0272] Some of the form control objects can be assigned to specialfunctions such as a control screen.

[0273] As with other Easy Terminal user interface features these controlobjects can be manipulated using numbers of colours. Some of these: thecombobox, listbox, editbox and text area require the user to selectitems within the control, again by number or colour. In the case of thecombobox and listbox, the items are numbered and coloured; in the editbox and text area, the carousel of letters is controlled via colour, andthe control focus is shifted from the page to the control. Colouredlinks on the page temporarily revert to the default link colour whilstthe focus is in the control object. The coloured text labels at thebottom of the screen reflect the current colour selection optionsavailable to the user—in the case—the control object options.

[0274] Once the user has completed the selection within the controlobject, the focus returns to the page, and the link coloring willreturn.

[0275] Slideshows

[0276] A Easy Terminal Slideshow consists of a series of files or URLsand timing information. When the slideshow is selected the URLs aredisplayed in sequence until interrupted by the user.

[0277] The slide show implementation of Easy Terminal uses files withthe extension type.sho. These files consist of a list of times inseconds and URLs, for example:

[0278] 10 URL1

[0279] 5 URL2

[0280] In this example, URL1 will be shown for a period of 10 seconds,and URL2 will be shown for 5 seconds. After this, the cycle will berepeated until the user intervenes by pressing any of the control keys.

[0281] This functionality is attractive because no modifications arerequired to the pages in order for them to be used in a slide show.

[0282] This function can also be used with linked Easy Terminals wheretwo users can view the same slide show. The slide show stops when eitheruser presses a control key.

1. An access system for accessing a location in a network by activatinga link in a file, which link contains a location address or anidentifier for a location address, which system comprises: i) means forretrieving one or more files; ii) means for searching a file soretrieved to locate one or more links embedded therein; iii) means forassigning an identifier to any link so located; iv) selection means foruse by the user to select an assigned identifier; and v) activatingmeans responsive to selection of an identifier to activate theassociated link.
 2. A system according to claim 1, wherein theactivating means activates the associated link so as to retrieve a filelocated at an address contained in or identified by that link.
 3. Asystem according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the activating means activatesthe associated link so as to launch an application associated with thelink.
 4. A system according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the systemfurther comprises a display control outout for use in displaying thefile containing the link to be activated.
 5. A system according to claim4, wherein the system is further provided with a user input for displaycontrol commands, and control means to receive such control commands andto control the display in accordance with said control commands.
 6. Asystem according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the systemis provided with a translation data store for use in translating anidentifier, when selected by use of said selection means, to anactivatable link.
 7. A system according to any one of claims 4 to 6wherein means is provided to process at least one activatable link in aretrieved file, prior to display, so as to modify the on-screenappearance of the link.
 8. A system according to claim 7 wherein theon-screen appearance of the link is modified by the addition of theidentifier assigned to that link.
 9. A system according to claim 8wherein the identifier comprises a number.
 10. A system according toeither one of claims 8 or 9 wherein the identifier comprises a colour.11. A system according to any one of claims 4 to 10 wherein means isprovided to process at least one activatable link in a retrieved file soas to generate a second on-screen appearance of the link.
 12. A systemaccording to claim 11 wherein means is provided to process at leasttwo-activatable links in a retrieved file so as to generate secondon-screen appearances of each respective link, and means is provided todisplay a set of said second on-screen appearances of the links,separately from other content of said retrieved file.
 13. A systemaccording to either one of claims 11 or 12 wherein each said secondon-screen appearance(s) of a processed link is different from the firston-screen appearance(s) of the associated processed link.
 14. A systemaccording to claim 13 wherein said second on-screen appearance of aprocessed link comprises substantially only the identifier for thatprocessed link.
 15. A system according to any one of claims 12 to 14wherein said set comprises a smaller number of second on-screenappearances of processed links than the number of links in a retrievedfile.
 16. A system according to claim 15, said system being providedwith link selection control means for use by the user to select thelinks in a retrieved file whose second on-screen appearances appear insaid set.
 17. A system according to claim 16 wherein the system hasmeans to respond to a scroll input, by means of the link selectioncontrol means, to scroll the set of second on-screen appearances oflinks in relation to the links in a retrieved file.
 18. A systemaccording to claim 17 wherein the means to respond to a scroll inputcomprises: i) means to compare the currently displayed set of secondon-screen appearances of links with the currently displayed firston-screen appearances of the links in a retrieved file; and ii) means toscroll the portion of the retrieved file currently displayed in theevent that the last of said set and the last of the first on-screenappearances of the links, in the scroll direction, both relate to thesame link.
 19. A system according to any one of the preceding claimswherein means is provided to process at least one activatable link in aretrieved file, prior to display, so as to incorporate timinginformation, and wherein said activating means activates said processedlink so as to display a file retrieved for a period of time determinedby said timing information.
 20. A system according to any one of thepreceding claims wherein the selection means comprises a remote controldevice, for instance based on infra-red transmission.
 21. A systemaccording to any one of the preceding claims wherein the system isfurther provided with means for processing links, located by the meansfor searching a file, to generate an identifier for each link frominformation contained in the link, and means for displaying the filetogether with one or more identifiers so generated.
 22. A systemaccording to claim 21 wherein the means for processing links comprises atruncation device for generating a truncated version of a link.
 23. Asystem according to any one of the preceding claims which furthercomprises means for preparing files with one or more embedded links andloading a prepared file to the system, at least one embedded link in aprepared file including, at least part of, an identifier to be assignedby the means for assigning identifiers, and further including an alertrecognisable by the system to alert the system that said embedded linkincludes such an identifier or part of an identifier.
 24. A systemaccording to any one of the preceding claims wherein the file is writtenin HyperText Markup Language.
 25. A system according to any one ofclaims 4 to 24, which further comprises means for determining spatialco-ordinates for links located in a file, said spatial co-ordinatesrelating each link to its location in the file when displayed, and themeans for assigning an identifier assigns an identifier to each link inaccordance with its spatial co-ordinates.
 26. A system according toclaim 25 wherein said spatial co-ordinates are based on perpendicularaxes and the means for assigning an identifier gives preference to theco-ordinate for one of the perpendicular axes, in assigning identifiersto a respective link.
 27. A system according to any one of the precedingclaims wherein the system further comprises display control means tocontrol the on-screen appearance of a file, in addition to the on-screenappearance of one or more links embedded in the file.
 28. A systemaccording to any one of the preceding claims wherein the activatingmeans activates the associated link so as to set up a communicationconnection in one or more communication networks.
 29. A system accordingto any one of the preceding claims, comprising a television displayoutput for displaying a retrieved file.
 30. An information networkbrowser comprising a system according to any one of the precedingclaims.
 31. An information network browser for locating, retrieving anddisplaying files stored at a location accessible by means of aninformation network, said browser comprising means to process aretrieved file prior to display.
 32. A browser according to claim 31wherein said means to process a retrieved file comprises means toidentify an activatable link embedded in said file, to generate anidentifier for a link so identified, and to display the identifiertogether with the link, the browser further comprising selection meansfor use by the user to input the identifier so as to activate the link.33. A browser according to claim 32 wherein the selection meanscomprises an array of independently selectable input means, each inputmeans being dedicated to a respective identifier.
 34. A browseraccording to claim 33 wherein the selection means comprises a keypad.34. A browser according to any one of claims 31 to 33, furthercomprising control means for use by the user to control the display.